So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread. (1 Samuel 21:6)
When you think about the Old Testament Laws do you think of them as gifts handed down by a gracious God? I think if most of us are honest there are times when we do view God’s laws as being more restrictive than freeing. However, 1 Samuel 21 gives us a different picture of God’s law and God, the lawgiver. In this passage David is on the run from Saul and he and his men are hungry. He goes to a priest named Ahimelech and asks him for bread for him and his men. The priest tells David that all he has is “consecrated bread” which was the bread that was not supposed to be eaten except by anyone but Aaron’s sons. However, the priest puts mercy before the ceremonial law. What do we make of this? Was the priest wrong to give David the bread? And was David wrong for taking it?
Well, according to Jesus in Matthew 12:3-7 Ahimelech was right in putting mercy before the ceremonial law. In a similar way to David, Jesus’ disciples were hungry on the Sabbath, so they began to pick and eat some heads of grain. The Pharisees had rules set up that restricted plucking heads of grain. So they sought to condemn Jesus and his disciples. But Jesus refers back to the Old Testament. He says, “Haven’t you read what David did… how he entered the house of God, and they are the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for him?” (Matt. 12:3). He then says that the Pharisees do not know what the phrase “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” means and said if they did, they would not have condemned the innocent. The question is: how is David and how are Jesus’ disciples innocent in this case? They are innocent because they acted according to their Master’s authority. And their Master is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8).
He is greater than the ceremonies, than the temple itself, and the priests. And rather than be a Lord who restricts without seeing the plight of his people, he sees his people and responds with grace. When people are hungry, he feeds them. When people are tired, he renews them. When people need forgiveness, he redeems them. So, when you read about Old Testament Laws see them not as random rules meant to restrict, but see them as coming from the hand of someone who absolutely desires the best for you.